Sunday, November 9, 2008

Friday was a late night and Saturday was a long day. Christy got up early to pursue mother of the year by decorating an Elmo cake. For Grace, Saturday started with another blueberry muffin. Then, after the first snow accumulation of the year, Grace enjoyed both riding with Grandpa on the golf cart and some sledding.

Grandpa and Grandma Rudy and Linda made lunch for everyone. After lunch, we sang and cut up Elmo.

And then the best part: GIFTS! Amongst other items, Grace received clothes, a guitar, a vacuum, and money. (By Sunday, she's made quick use of the vacuum.)

After Grace's birthday party, we went to Rudy's surprise 50th party where Grace made friends with Lauren, Rudy's great niece.

And Lydia finally got some attention both from Grandpa and with a pony ride from her sister.

There's a short build up between Halloween and Grace's birthday. The girls took the time to do some bonding. They took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather.

Also, between the excitement of Halloween and the build up to Grace's birthday, Christy earned a break. It was time Grace start doing some chores. So, Grace has started feeding Lydia. However, after only recently recovering from the 2008 Great Sprinkle Famine, we were deep into the 2008 Great Baby Food Famine. Again, Grace was acutely aware. Lydia was only allowed to repeatedly lick a spoon dipped in food.

Then, they returned to bonding with a little game of catch. Due to Lydia's admittedly poor coordination, Grace found eye protection. Lydia was willing to risk it.

Finally, Grace's birthday celebration started with a family party at home. Grace had a cupcake and opened gifts. We loaded her new princess tent with balloons. Now, that's where she insists we keep these balloons.

Grace started her birthday morning with a mom-made-from-scratch blueberry muffin. With two candles of course. And she started singing Happy Birthday to herself that would last all weekend.

Then, we headed north to a birthday dinner with grandparents Dawn and Charlie. And when desert came, Grace had to fend off a sugar-hungry grandpa.

The girls have had a very full Halloween celebration. I'll bet that Lydia and Grace have spent more time on ghouls and goblins than on Christmas. And we've the pics to prove it.

There was trick-or-treating at Virginia Highlands. The Mom's club organized a kid-friendly event at a local senior community.

After the conducting candy collection services, the Mom's club kids carried on with cookie decorating services. Many have heard what'll be known as the 2008 Great Sprinkle Famine. Grace was acutely aware of the shortage. Grace was decorating one of the ladies cookies. The lady asked for sprinkles. With the Famine in mind, Grace had to balance the needs of one against the needs of many. She placed one sprinkle on the cookie, looked at her customer, and asked, "More?" The lady was short-sighted, selfish, and demanding, "More, please." And she got a second sprinkle. "More?" "How about a black sprinkle?" asked the pushy lady. Grace obliged, but there would be no more sprinkles for this selfish person.

After decorating cookies, Sonia helped Grace and Lydia decorate muffins. Fortunately, Dad got to enjoy the muffins. He still doesn't know who ate the cookies.

Sonia, employed by Big Apple Bagels, organized a marketing event where the kids got to decorate mini-muffins with Halloween themed items. One muffin included a marshmallow-eye.

Plus, you'll remember from a previous blog, we all enjoyed Halloween at the Zoo with the Groeschels. By now, the girls were properly prepared for the original version of Halloween: neighborhood trick-or-treating. Right girls? What's that mischevious look for?

And after all that work, Graced most enjoyed staying home and giving candy to all the 'treaters.